The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Lambèr Meyers
(Lambert P.Ch.)

The photo at the right shows Lambert Meijers as a scout (archive of Marianne Meijers) [1].
The source of the photo below is his In Memoriam card. [2]

Lambert Meijers and Paul Ex knew each other from scouting. Paul was a brother of Karel Ex. When scouting was banned in the Netherlands in April 1941, the friends Lambert and Paul started doing more and more forbidden things. In the beginning quite innocent: pulling NSB posters off the walls and the like.
Or like this: Armed with brush and can, the boys set out to paint the letters O.Z.O. on the sidewalk and against the facades of houses of Germans and NSBs. The abbreviation stood for Oranje Zal Overwinnen, Orange will win. It was used by many from the beginning of the occupation as a kind of greeting or yell. You would run into each other on the street and yell, “O so!” [3]
Lambert, was caught by a Dutch Nazi with a pot of orange paint in his hand, so the paint ended up on the Nazi’s uniform. Thus began the resistance career of those two teenagers. [1]
Cammaert writes in summary about Lambert: Involved in the production of the illegal magazine “Oranje Hagel”, also helping Allied refugees and people in hiding. Was repeatedly arrested, but managed to escape each time. [4]
On geni.com we read about the name of the paper: The title ORANJE HAGEL was chosen with the intention of letting the truth come down like orange hailstones on the occupier and his satellites, according to the founder of the paper, the constable and then police inspector H.H. Pollaert. [2]
At the beginning of the war, the Allied refugees Cammaert writes about were mainly French-speaking prisoners of war who had fled Germany. When the bombing of Germany began and became increasingly intense, they were joined by downed airmen who were brought on their way home via the same escape routes.
At the beginning of the last deportation phase of the Jews from Venlo in April 1943, police officers H.H. Pollaert, J.G.A. Aarts and H.G. Snellen warned as many Jews as possible through Ph.A.V. Wolff, a "half-Jew". They also provided addresses for hiding. A network of helpers soon emerged, including the brothers K.P.M. and P.P.J. Ex, L.P.C. Meyers and W.F.Th. van Boekhold and later the parish priest H.J.H. Vullinghs as well as H. Joosten from Grubbenvorst, P.A.J. Peeters and P. Reijnders from Broekhuizenvorst and J.H. van Megen from Broekhuizen. [5]
Those whose names are marked with a red link above unfortunately did not survive the war. These include Sef van Megen. He and Lambert Meyers, who had gone into hiding with Sef, were arrested on August 19, 1943. [6]
Lambert, however, survived the war: Meyers, who forged identity cards for Jews, was imprisoned no less than five times for his resistance work, but managed to escape each time. [5]
In addition, the young people from Venlo took care of escaped French prisoners of war. [1]



Lambèr Meijers
∗ Venlo 22-11-1924
† Venlo 1-11-1997

Footnotes

1. Sef Derkx (floddergatsblog) O.Z.O.
2. geni.com Lambert P.Ch. Meijers
3. vrijheid.scouting.nl/ Verzet Lambèr Meijers
4. Cammaert, A. P. M. (1994). Het verborgen front: Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
   Hoofdst. 0, pp.18ff: Introductie van vaak genoemde personen
5. ibidem 5. Hulpverlening aan joden, p.430-431
6. ibidem Hoofdst. 3. Hulpverlening aan uit Duitsland ontvluchte (Franstalige) krijgsgevangenen, p.141